Npower - ombudsman

HUMBUG

All
I switched both Gas/Elec from Scottish Power to NPOWER via energyhelpline switching service. NPOWER switched my upstairs neighbours electricity line in error ( from Southern Electric ) and started billing and direct-debiting me for my neighbours electricity while Scottish Power still direct-debited me for my own line (ie, as if it hadn't switched). I was unaware of this for several months until I found out by accident when my upstairs neighbour sold the flat (and NPOWER sent me an email saying they would assist me with the move of the account to a new address- alarm bells started ringing). I've gone through the OMBUDSMAN but its been over a year now and all I get are standard letters from NPOWER every 28 days stating the issue is unresolved . I also get reminders and statements for the electricity bills for my upstairs neighbours usage (with the usual threat of warrants and entry into premises , etc).. NPOWER have given me £150 compensation but I have spent over 50+ hours of my time trying to get various parties together to resolve the problem. They have still not fixed the problem of billing (to my address) for the upstairs neighbour's usage and not bothered to process an 'erroneous transfer' of my line from Scottish Power (I checked with Scottish Power myself). So I have now tried to resolve the situation myself by formally requesting SP to do an erroneous transfer (because NPOWER are unable to do this for some reason). While all this has been occurring the tenants who were renting the upstairs property have left the premises without having to pay any electricity (that was billed to me in error). Also , I am missing out on switching to other cheaper tariffs while NPOWER and the OMBUDSMAN drag their feet . It really is an intolerable situation when the OMBUDSMAN does not insist on a target deadline for energy suppliers to resolve customer disputes . The rules are that they must update the customer every 28 days and that's it!!!!! So in theory they can take years to resolve a customer dispute and not get penalised any further . In my opinion the Ombudsman seems to be favouring the supplier over the customer and it is utterly disgraceful. The customer loses out every time and should be compensated at least £10 per wasted hour . In my case the compensation should be more like £500 rather than the£150 that the Ombudsman claimed was the maximum offered within their remit . Ridiculous and shameful way to treat customers.

matelodave

I'm afraid you have to shoulder some blame for not checking that all was in order with both your billing and your bank accounts when you switched.

Had you checked your meters & bills you would have noticed much earlier that something was awry.

I also find it hard to understand when people don't notice that their bank account isn't right, either by having too much or too little in it.

Don't you check your bank statements or have you got so much in there that several months extra DD doesn't get noticed or you don't know who's helping themselves to your money?

naedanger

HUMBUG wrote: »

All
I switched both Gas/Elec from Scottish Power to NPOWER via energyhelpline switching service. NPOWER switched my upstairs neighbours electricity line in error ( from Southern Electric ) and started billing and direct-debiting me for my neighbours electricity while Scottish Power still direct-debited me for my own line (ie, as if it hadn't switched). I was unaware of this for several months until I found out by accident when my upstairs neighbour sold the flat (and NPOWER sent me an email saying they would assist me with the move of the account to a new address- alarm bells started ringing). I've gone through the OMBUDSMAN but its been over a year now and all I get are standard letters from NPOWER every 28 days stating the issue is unresolved . I also get reminders and statements for the electricity bills for my upstairs neighbours usage (with the usual threat of warrants and entry into premises , etc).. NPOWER have given me £150 compensation but I have spent over 50+ hours of my time trying to get various parties together to resolve the problem. They have still not fixed the problem of billing (to my address) for the upstairs neighbour's usage and not bothered to process an 'erroneous transfer' of my line from Scottish Power (I checked with Scottish Power myself). So I have now tried to resolve the situation myself by formally requesting SP to do an erroneous transfer (because NPOWER are unable to do this for some reason). While all this has been occurring the tenants who were renting the upstairs property have left the premises without having to pay any electricity (that was billed to me in error). Also , I am missing out on switching to other cheaper tariffs while NPOWER and the OMBUDSMAN drag their feet . It really is an intolerable situation when the OMBUDSMAN does not insist on a target deadline for energy suppliers to resolve customer disputes . The rules are that they must update the customer every 28 days and that's it!!!!! So in theory they can take years to resolve a customer dispute and not get penalised any further . In my opinion the Ombudsman seems to be favouring the supplier over the customer and it is utterly disgraceful. The customer loses out every time and should be compensated at least £10 per wasted hour . In my case the compensation should be more like £500 rather than the£150 that the Ombudsman claimed was the maximum offered within their remit . Ridiculous and shameful way to treat customers.

I had a very similar problem when I tried to switch to npower. Instead of switching my electricity supply to themselves npower switched someone else's supply. (They couldn't tell me whose supply because of the DPA. Fair enough except they ignore the DPA when it suits them i.e. when I asked them to correct the erroneous personal data they held.)

I did spot their error promptly but it made no difference. Again I took my complaint to the Ombudsman. He upheld it and then gave npower 28 days to fix it. Npower then closed my complaint while admitting they had not fixed the issue, and were still billing me for someone else's electricity.

The Ombudsman did very, very little to help. So I complained about the Ombudsman, who then did not follow their own complaint process (basically just ignored much of my correspondence). I eventually took my complaint about the Ombudsman to the Independent Assessor. He upheld my complaint regarding the Ombudsman's lack of communication but not regarding the fact they did next to nothing to get npower to comply with their ruling. (The Independent Assessor said the Ombudsman followed their own process so it was not within his scope to criticise this, although he noted others had had similar problems and he had made recommendations to the Ombudsman on how they might improve their processes.)

So basically npower can ignore the Ombudsman's ruling with impunity.

I suggest you complain about the Ombudsman's lack of action in enforcing his own decision. The process is here. http://www.ombudsman-services.org/service-standards.html It probably won't do a great deal of good but at the very least you should register your dis-satisfaction with the Ombudsman.

naedanger

matelodave wrote: »

I'm afraid you have to shoulder some blame for not checking that all was in order with both your billing and your bank accounts when you switched.

Had you checked your meters & bills you would have noticed much earlier that something was awry.

I also find it hard to understand when people don't notice that their bank account isn't right, either by having too much or too little in it.

Don't you check your bank statements or have you got so much in there that several months extra DD doesn't get noticed or you don't know who's helping themselves to your money?

I believe the OP is complaining about the length of time npower is taking to fix the issue after they have been told about it. You have to wait 8 weeks after first making a complaint before you can take it to the Ombudsman. Then the Ombudsman will take weeks to consider the case. Then, assuming the complaint is upheld, the supplier will be given 28 days to fix the problem. The issue is that even after all this time npower will not fix the problem and just ignore the the Ombudsman's 28 deadline.

Furthermore npower will lie about the fact that they have not resolved the case within the 28 day deadline in their official complaint statistics. (Or at least they did in my case.)

hra_2

Have found a very helpful and quite specific factsheet for enforcing the Financial Ombudsman's decisions and I would have thought the situation for the Energy Ombudsman was analogous - that both ombudsmen's decisions are already legally binding and enforceable in court without having to re-argue the case. It sounds as if it would help to quote the corresponding legislation though.
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/factsheets/enforcing-an-ombudsmans-decision.pdf
This may perhaps explain why the Independent Assessor only helped on the failure of customer service.

matelodave

I think you'll find that the Financial Ombudsman is a very different animal to the Energy one.
Look here http://www.ombudsman-services.org/ the terms of reference seem to be very loose and with no teeth - in fact it almost appears to be voluntary.
I'd hope, however that if the EO had made a decision in your favour and that hadn't been actioned then you could go to court to ask for it to be upheld.

naedanger

hra wrote: »

Have found a very helpful and quite specific factsheet for enforcing the Financial Ombudsman's decisions and I would have thought the situation for the Energy Ombudsman was analogous - that both ombudsmen's decisions are already legally binding and enforceable in court without having to re-argue the case. It sounds as if it would help to quote the corresponding legislation though.
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/factsheets/enforcing-an-ombudsmans-decision.pdf
This may perhaps explain why the Independent Assessor only helped on the failure of customer service.

I found that leaflet too, and was going to use it to help support my complaint to the Independent Assessor before realising it was only about financial services. The financial ombudsman in that leaflet says they will report a company's non compliance to the regulator - "And if we can’t contact the business – or we find it’s refusing to comply with the decision – we report it to its regulator." That was one of the actions I asked the Ombudsman to take to help me get npower to comply. However they did not do so and the Independent Assessor did not uphold this aspect of my complaint.

Personally I think it is pathetic that a body whose job is to make decisions appears very relaxed about the fact that the decisions are in many cases not complied with for no good reason. Even if the Ombudsman has no statutory powers you would expect they would be going public with their dis-satisfaction with this state of affairs.

HUMBUG

matelodave wrote: »

I'm afraid you have to shoulder some blame for not checking that all was in order with both your billing and your bank accounts when you switched.

Had you checked your meters & bills you would have noticed much earlier that something was awry.

I also find it hard to understand when people don't notice that their bank account isn't right, either by having too much or too little in it.

Don't you check your bank statements or have you got so much in there that several months extra DD doesn't get noticed or you don't know

who's helping themselves to your money?

I do check my bank statements and the agreed expected average direct-debit was being taken (using the agreed annual KWH usage). But they suddenly backbilled me when the upstairs neighbour's meter was read after a period of 10 months. This is another big problem with NPOWER , they can take over a year to produce a bill.

HUMBUG

All
Many thanks for your comments. I did complain about the Ombudsman to another Energy body but they couldn't help. I've actually got a reply from my MP who has requested NPOWER to submit details of my case to him. Hopefully I will see light at the end of this very long tunnel.
What I cannot understand is why NPOWER didn't progress an erroneous transfer of the supply lines to the rightful owners? It only takes a phone call or a signed letter from the customers to agree to the transfer (a days work). I can work out the backbilling of my own electricity using NPOWER tariffs in 30 mins (its only a simple formulae). Why has it taken them 1 year? They must be in complete and utter chaos!

naedanger

HUMBUG wrote: »

All
Why has it taken them 1 year? They must be in complete and utter chaos!

Indeed. And yours is just one of many, many complaints. I think part of the problem is that they are not been held properly to account.

HUMBUG

All
SUCCESS at last! It seems that NPOWER have dedicated 'SPOCs' (single points of contact) to look after specific customers who have complained direct to their local MPs. In my case, an NPOWER lady phoned me and said she will now take overall responsibility to resolve the situation. So now I have a name and direct telephone /extension number for that person. This is so much better than having to speak to various people (seems to be quite a turnaround of staff at NPOWER) and keep repeating the problem which has wasted a vast amount of my time (and over a very stressful period with my mother being so ill too). NPOWER and SCOTTISH POWER have no idea how much extra stress they can inflict on people who have other personal issues to deal with in their lives.
So if people are not getting any response from NPOWER , send a detailed account to your local MP ( I had to send mine to a House of Commons address). It won't get sent to Ed Davey (Energy Sec) as he will not comment on individual cases. Your MP will be keen to put a lot of pressure on the energy board members to resolve their constituents issues, especially when there is a General Election forthcoming.